Good evening. Thank you for taking our comments and listening and giving thoughtful consideration. My name is Sue Wanzer. I am a four-term elected member of the MCCSC Board of School Trustees. I oppose this charter now for the THIRD time for several reasons.

First, except for teaching Greek and Latin in elementary school, the only other difference in this school is that it will serve to segregate our community with its exclusive standards which will be discriminatory to many students.

Secondly, you should actually disregard the letter from Representative Peggy Mayfield in support of Seven Oaks. She is offering an opinion with no knowledge to back it up, Representative Mayfield has not contacted MCCSC nor visited with us to talk about our schools. In fact when invited, she has refused. She lacks any firsthand information about MCCSC except what she has been told by the organizers.

Third, there is no popularly elected school board for public governance.

But most importantly, the organizers are proposing their own limited culture, based on the writings of E D Hirsch, whose research findings have been called racist and sexist. I don’t believe they want a choice, because there are many choices in this community; rather, they want to be segregated.

As a doctoral student at Teachers College Columbia University in the late 80’s, we actually focused on critiques of Hirsch because his views were so narrow and discriminatory.

A commentary on Hirsch from What Johnny Should Read by Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University:

"Not only is the method Hirsch promotes suspect by critics, but also the content of the curriculum he prescribes. Among the concerns frequently voiced is: 'Whose form of knowledge, culture, vision, history and authority will prevail?' In other words, who will be asked to compile this list of core contents to be taught to every student across the nation? Will they, like Hirsch, be white, middle-class males? Forcing every student to accept the culture that Hirsch advocates is a subtle form of racism and sexism. It is an attempt to force on all citizens the values implicit in the culture of the dominant social class. As such it is unjust.

Our schools should continue to reflect our dynamic, pluralistic culture. Rather than producing a homogeneous student body, schools should encourage cultural diversity because diversity is a fundamental source of creativity. And, unless we've reached utopia (which we have not), education should empower students to change and advance our culture." End quote.

But Seven Oaks uses Hirsch as a foundation for their proposal.From the application, p.16: Hirsch stresses that “cultural literacy” is vital to comprehend the vast areas of human knowledge necessary for our political, economic, social, and moral well-being, p.16.

From their application p. 22"Seven Oaks promotes a school culture that demands moral virtue, decorum, respect, discipline, and studiousness. Because the broad social culture in our country is increasingly coarse, parents are intent on finding the right school, with an increasing eye for counter culture. Seven Oaks Classical School will resonate with these parents."

It seems this one size fits all culture will permeate the entire school.Students will be expected to adhere to the general rules of the school as well as those rules established by each teacher within his or her classroom (p. 22). What happens when students don’t adhere? When they may not be able to, due to poverty, hunger, learning disabilities, mental health issues behavioral issues, or other disabilities?

It seems clear that they are creating their own segregated culture and others aren’t welcome. And when students don’t adhere, where does that child go? BACK TO THE REAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT EDUCATE ALL STUDENTS. No questions asked.In no way should the broader community’s taxpayer funds pay for something that is so exclusive, discriminatory and antithetical to public education...Because public education is the basis of our democracy and was created for the common good, not just a few.

Sevem Oaks is proposed by a few for a few who desire a specialized, segregated school for their own children, and only those children who are just like they are, which again flies in the face of what public education should represent. Please consider the greater community and the common good and do not approve a niche school which serves only to segregate our community. Thank you.